Junior Signers
by Nocturnea
Summary: AU. Based right after the first defeat of the Dark Signers. Five new Junior Signers and Ten new Dark Signers show up, and the Signers must defeat them again. Summary sucks, yeah I know. I suck at summaries. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first Yu-Gig-Oh! Fan-fiction piece, set just after the defeat of the Dark Signers. Has OCs, and majorly breaks canon. Not quite enough to be called Alterative Universe in my opinion, though. Pairings I have planned are: Akiza + Yusei, and Toby + an OC. They'll be less than major to the story, though. And if you're going 'How is Toby there?' in your mind or even out loud, FYI I'm using the 4kids dub's take on the issue, and that makes the fact that he's still alive a little less AU. And on a side note, my computer doesn't let me do an "o" with a line over the top, so an "o" with a tilde on top of it is the closest I can do, but that actually means in this fan-fiction that that I want to put an "o" with a line over it in but can't. Anyhow, if you find it enjoyable, please enjoy this._

_Warning: I have watched Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and so I know the basic rules and terms of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duels. However, basics are all I know, and therefore please bear with me if I get some specifics wrong, like about Tuning and Synchro summon. About those two, all I know really is that they exist as valid actions._

_Disclaimer: I in no way own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or any other Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I do own the OCs as intellectual property. Proof of the former includes a) If I owned the actual series, then this wouldn't be fan-fiction, now would it? And b) This is on the internet and not for profit in any way. Now that I've said it, I'll forgo this in future chapters and since this chapter would be read before other chapters, this can just apply indefinitely to this story. Now, it shall begin! *__**Cue lightning and muahahahaha sfx**__*_

Location: New Domino Casual Duel arena

Point of view: Narrator, currently following Akiza and Yusei

Akiza Izayoi and Yusei Fudo were walking along the road past the New Domino Casual Duel Arena, together purely by chance. They had both intended to visit Leo and Luna, but ran into each other and got entirely distracted talking to each other about nothing in particular. Just being together made them both happy. As they talked, a widespread collective whisper could be heard from other nearby people, and did not go unnoticed to the two signers.

"Hey did you hear? There's a Duelist in today's casual tournament with powers that point to her becoming a new Black Rose!" "Really? Come on then, let's go see!" Was the gist of the hushed conversations for the most part. Yusei and Akiza let this sink in for a moment.

"Should we…?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Akiza! Yusei!" Luna, Leo, and Dexter's voices rang as the three eleven-year-olds ran towards Yusei and Akiza. With the exception of Luna of course. She was walking, and rather slowly. Luna then sighed as her brother and his best friend collided and tripped over each other's feet, face planting just in front of Akiza and Yusei. Leo got to his feet, then helped Dexter to his. Dexter righted his glasses.

"What are you doing here?" Yusei asked. Luna sighed again.

"Dexter wants to see this Duelist who doesn't need or use a Duel Disk. Leo doesn't believe it and he came along to see if it's true. They dragged me along because I can't be home alone since I have the flu." Luna grumbled.

"Aw come on Luna, you know you want to see!" Leo teased. Luna was clearly becoming somewhat irate.

"Well chance would have it that we're going to watch the casual tournament today too." Akiza said. Dexter, Leo, and Luna exchanged a look.

"Are you…" Dexter started, "On a date?" Leo finished the sentence. Akiza blushed bright red, as did Yusei.

"We'll take that as a yes." All three eleven year olds said in perfect unison.

"No!" Yusei and Akiza nearly shouted, but the little kids weren't listening. They all had run into the arena seats. Yusei followed them in. Akiza, however, decided to stay outside of arena and watch from the doorway; something gave her a jittery feeling about the match.

Location: Inside New Domino Casual Duel Arena

Point of view: Luna's point of view, present tense

I sit down between my brother Leo and Dexter. Yusei follows us in shortly afterwards, and sits down beside Leo. I notice that Akiza isn't with him, and wonder what could have happened to her. I hope it wasn't anything bad. Well, maybe I'm just being paranoid. I know that I was when I spot her watching from the doorway. What could have prompted her to stay out there, I wonder? I guess I should ask her later. The Duel is starting, so I divert my attention to that. Two Duelists step out of doors on either side of the arena. They can't be much older than Leo and myself. Maybe thirteen, fourteen at most. One of them is a girl with very dark sea green hair done in a small ponytail on the right hand side of her head with a blue teardrop shaped plastic bobble. And soft, big, pink eyes. She is wearing a sky blue blouse and loose silver pants. The other, I can't tell whether they're a boy or a girl. Nor can I see their face. They're wearing a cloak, one that looks very familiar in an eerie, ominous kind of way… But I just can't place where I might have seen it before. Probably just in some store window and I'm being paranoid.

"You're not the Black Rose. I was told I'd battle the Black Rose!" The cloaked Duelist shouts, from "his" voice I think "he" is a boy. Also from his voice he seems to harbour a hatred for the Black Rose… I mean, Akiza. Sorry. Anyway, I can read Akiza's lips, and she seems to be saying something like 'ANOTHER person with a vendetta against me?'. Or she's singing 'Mary had a little lamb'. I'm not quite sure. The first makes much more sense. But now's not the time to be worrying about that. The boy in the cloak takes a card, puts it face-up on his Duel Disk, and looks straight at Yusei.

"Yusei Fudo… I've heard that you're very precious to the Black Rose. Feel the pain that I felt when I heard my beloved sister had been sent to the netherworld by the Black Rose! Come, Tentacle Plant!" He shouts, summoning Tentacle Plant. It seemingly commences the Duel against whoever Duels him too, since the arena screen and his Duel Disk announce his Life Points.

"Now, come, my spell! Thorn of Malice, lend Tentacle Plant your power! ATTACK!" The boy in the cloak yells. Menacingly sharp thorns appear on Tentacle Plant's tentacles, and it hits Yusei. Yusei cries out in pain and falls unconscious. I can see, he's bleeding. Dexter and Leo, along with most of the other people in the arena, begin to panic. I want to panic as well, but I'm sure it'd do no good to give in to the fear. My birthmark is glowing, and my arm hurts like h- e- double hockey sticks. (Please excuse me for the harsh language, but that's a pretty good analogy for the situation now.) How has Leo not noticed his, it's glowing even brighter than mine! I know I wouldn't be able to help Yusei, since I know nothing of First Aid and I'm too small to carry him to a safer place.

"Now Tentacle Plant, attack again!" The boy shouts. I can vaguely see glowing, purple marks on his face and a stylized glowing image of an orca whale on his right forearm. That's where I recognized his cloak! He's a Dark Signer! But how? We defeated them just the other week, I'm certain! But that can wait, at least for the moment. Other things can't. Like the Tentacle Plant. It raises a spiky tendril, and prepares to smash it down on Yusei and me. Oh no! If I can't drag Yusei out of the way really fast, we'll both die!

Location: New Domino Casual Duel Arena

Point of view: Narrator, back to past tense

As Tentacle Plant raised a sharply spiked vine, Hõseki took her level three, one, and five Fortune Fairy cards out and turned it to face the Dark Signer. She dropped them. When the card hit the ground, they grew to be the size of field facedowns.

"Fortune Fairies Hikari, Ann, and Fuu, it's Tuning time! O magic of both dark and light, take wing in the form of an all-seeing storm of justice! Come forth, Waning Moon Balance Dragon!" Hõseki shouted. The level nine dragon appeared. It looked similar to Stardust Dragon, except it was blue where Stardust was purple, and black and black and silver where Stardust would've been white. It radiated a black light, and it was quite noticeably smaller than Stardust Dragon. Hõseki's dragon attacked the Tentacle Plant, and destroyed it before its attack could reach the two Signers. Apparently, she could Duel without a Duel Disk. The other Duelist's Duel Disk and the arena screen announced her Life Points.

"What? You destroyed my Tentacle Plant?" The Dark Signer yelled. Hõseki didn't respond. She drew a card from her deck instead, and dropped it onto the ground.

"Equip spell: Nightmare Flash. Bond with Balance Dragon!" Hõseki said. Balance dragon's glow got brighter. It breathed in and prepared to unleash an energy breath attack.

Point of view change: Hõseki's PoV. Present tense, 'cuz it seems to fit better for her.

I want to defeat this guy. No, make that I _need _to. What. A. Jerk! Seriously, attacking people who had no chance of defending themselves over a grudge against their friend. Words don't even begin to describe just how wrong that is. I'll need to get my opponent's name so I can make a note not to forgive him. Unless, of course, he has an extremely good reason for this grudge of his. Still, someone not involved directly is not involved. That's all there is to it. You keep a grudge against the offender, and that's it. To make matters worse, he has powers like mine and he seems to be able to control them! That means, do the math and at the bottom line I can't beat him with my dragonstone restraining my own powers. So, I take it off and put it on the ground. It doesn't matter that I can't control my powers so long as I defeat him. Hopefully I won't hurt the people brave or foolish enough to still be watching.

"Balance Dragon, attack him directly and take away his Life Points!" I say. My dragon obeys and aims her blast at my opponent. Good, if this works the Duel won't last much longer. Oh whatever gods or spirits exist, please don't take some sick humour and make me hit the spectators.

"Trap: Watery reflection!" My opponent uses his trap card before the attack can connect. I am knocked against the wall with the force of the attack and I can hardly get back to my feet. I can feel my powers coming into control. My dragon flaps her wings and makes a strong twisting wind around the arena. I think I should summon another monster. Normally I'd be more withdrawn, but my powers will undoubtedly make me Duel with all the power I've got. But it's my opponent's turn now. He draws a card. Turns out, it's Queen of Thorns. He summons it, along with Nettles, Spore, and Dandylion. And he turns away from me again. He intends to attack the people watching again! No, he can't! I won't let him! Aaand… the grand total of all that is my powers going waaaaaay out of control. Like off the charts crazy. Apparently the normal Dueling rules like turns and that stuff don't apply for this Duel. I draw a card, and it's Lightning Vortex. Were it up to me I wouldn't use this. I might very well kill everyone here. That's a very real worry, not an irrational fear. Similar has happened to me after all. My first exhibition match at school comes to mind, but thankfully only a few were watching, not a few hundred like are here now. Yes, if it were up to me I'd find another way. Or more likely, not manage to. But it isn't up to me. And my intuition, a.k.a. my powers, knows quite well that it's the only way to protect the bystanders. But geez, why haven't they run away yet?

"Attack Yusei Fudo!" My opponent yells out the command I had thought he would. Looks like there's no other option now. Though to be quite frank, there never was. From the second I removed my dragonstone, there was no turning back. Something like this was bound to happen now or then. Cursed birthmark of mine, I never asked for this but I'm stuck with you and these stupid 'gifts'. I feel my eyes glaze over and dull with the icy mental absence of myself as my godforsaken power finally takes complete control.

"Spell card, give me your power! I send Fortune Fairy Chee to my Graveyard for the spell Lightning Vortex and Balance Dragon attack!" I say, though my own ability of control is in trance. I hate what will come when this Duel is finished, hate it with all my heart. But it's a small price to pay to save a life. A lightning storm buzzes around the arena, destroying all of my opponent's monsters. Thankfully, the stray bolts only singe a few people, and not lethally. My opponent takes damage from my dragon and the destruction of his monsters enough that his Life Points are down to zero. This Duel is over. At least, I think so. But he has one more card trick left to pull. He summons Camellia Princess Tytannial, jumps on one of her flower petals, uses a vine to drag Yusei along with him, and flies away. A red haired girl runs into the arena and shouts after them. Then, my vision goes black and I grab my dragonstone. Just one more reason why I hate this cursed power and birthmark: if I let it take over, I faint after Dueling. Stupid, stupid power… My thoughts go silent.

_A cliffy! Ehehehehe, I'm so evil. Or not. Maybe no one finds it cliffy but me. And maybe no one liked it enough to care either way. On to the chapter ending notes! Thanks for reading this and please review with any comments or questions. Just to clarify, a bunch of cards used in this chapter were made up by me and I'm making new ones as I write this. Anyway constructive criticism is welcome; destructive criticism is less so. Also, there are nine Dark Signer and Junior Dark Signer spots left to fill with OCs if you would like to contribute one. The new/Junior Dark Signer marks are: Hands, heron, pelican, and shark. However, the remaining four Junior Signer spots I'm giving my friends/classmates first crack at. That being said, I'd like to reiterate: thanks for reading this! Oh and it will continue, whether or not anyone reads or reviews this. Thankies! And as I've seen others say, stay tuned please!_


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm baaack! One more pairing to add to the list: Jack and Carly! Well, enough of notes. On to the chapter!_

Location: Unknown (Known to the Narrator as a large wheelie closet in the Dark Signers' underground secret HQ somewhere in New Domino.)

Point of View: Yusei's. In present tense, because that builds better suspense from a character's PoV.

My head hurts really badly. I can't see anything, either. Last I remember, a Duelist in the Casual Arena said something about having a grudge against Akiza, and summoning a Tentacle Monster. Its thorn-ified tentacle hit me and I lost consciousness. What happened since then, I wonder? I'm more awake now. But my arms won't move. I can hear the clink of handcuffs. I open my mouth to ask if anyone is around, but I find that there's a gag in place. Great, this day has just gone downhill since the second we entered the arena. It'd been good 'til then. 'Specially so since Akiza was with me. Now really isn't the time, though. I can hear voices on the other side of the door. Suddenly, my arm starts hurting. It hasn't done that, at least not in this particular way, since we fought the Dark Signers.

"He's a Signer isn't he? That should make our course of action clear." A voice says from the next room. I've never heard it before, and can't really tell whether the speaker is male or female. But it carries the familiar, eerie demonic ring of a Dark Signer's voice. And worse, the speaker sounds angry. VERY angry.

"But if we send Yusei Fudo to the Netherworld while the other Signers watch, it'll be easier to get rid of them!" A boy whose voice I recognize from the Arena protests. With what they're saying, I'm starting to get just a tad worried.

* * *

Location: New Domino Casual Duel Arena

Point of View: Hõseki, still in present tense.

I wake up, still clutching my Yin-Yang dragonstone (it's like a Yin-Yang symbol but with a red and a blue dragon mixing to form a balanced circle instead of two teardrop thingies.) In the middle of the arena sits a girl with short red hair, sobbing uncontrollably. By her side are two teal haired children, not much younger than me, comforting her. I put my dragonstone back at its place on my choker-style necklace and walk over to them.

"What happened?" I ask, though I am not entirely sure whether that will be taken as rude or negative.

"That Dark Signer took Yusei! And I couldn't stop him!" The red haired girl sobs.

"Akiza, please calm down. The only solution is to find Yusei and save him." The girl with teal hair says. The other kid, who I assume is her brother, agrees. Akiza gets to her feet and takes a deep breath. She takes another and another and another until she has stopped crying.

"Thank you, Luna. We shouldn't waste another second. Leo, you call Jack and Carly. I'll call Misty and Kalin, Luna you call Crow. They need to hear about this." Akiza says in a commanding tone. The little girl, whose name I now know to be Luna, nods and dials a number on her mobile phone. Her brother Leo begins to do the same, but he pauses.

"But won't Jack yell at me for interrupting their date?" Leo asks, cowering a little if my eyes serve me right.

"Call Carly's phone then. She'll at least let you explain." Akiza says, adding quietly, "That's why I opted to call Crow, and not Jack." At least, that's what I can hear. How does Leo not hear? Or maybe Akiza says stuff like that a lot and he opts to ignore it as normal. Anyway, Luna is by now done with her call, as are the other two. No sooner than Leo closes his phone, a Duel Runner and a taxi speed into the Arena. Or in the taxi's case, stop outside and let out its passengers.

"What's this about a Dark Signer coming along and taking Yusei away?" A boy with short blond hair runs in, followed by a girl with long black hair and thick glasses.

"Exactly what it seems, Jack. A Dark Signer came here, and apparently has a vendetta against me so he attacked Yusei to draw me out. Or that's what Luna told me anyway. I had left the Arena because I had a bad feeling about the Duel, but I never thought this would happen…" Akiza says. I think she might start crying again. I decide to step in.

"Akiza. It's my fault. I wanted to protect everyone who had been watching, and I couldn't stop that person from escaping. I couldn't…" I trail off. Another stupid side effect of this stupid curse. These stupid dizzy/fainting spells that happen once in a while. I fall to my knees, seemingly taken as a reaction caused by guilt by everyone else around. Luna kneels down so we are face to face.

"It's not your fault. It's that Dark Signer's fault. So don't even say that." Luna says. I nod, somewhat uncertainly.

"So, do you have any clue where he is?" A boy with icy blue hair, who I hadn't noticed before, asks. By his side, a girl who I recognize as Misty Lola stands. Everyone shrugs their shoulders. Except me.

"Actually, I think I might have a clue." I say.

"You'd better, since you claim that it's your fault." Misty says with a light laugh.

"Well, for starters there is that note over by that wall…" I say, pointing to a purple piece of paper by the opposite wall.

"How is it that none of us noticed that?" Jack asks rhetorically as he goes and picks up the piece of paper.

"Aaand, congrats kiddo. Your hunch was spot on." He adds after reading the note. He passes it to Akiza, whose eyes go wide on reading it.

"It says: To the Black Rose. If you don't want your friend to be sent to the Netherworld, meet me tomorrow at the New Domino Casual Duel Arena. Come alone or with other Signers. If a non-Signer comes it is at the peril of their own life. One of the Signers must Duel me. From the Dark Signer of the Orca immortal; Toby Lola." Akiza reads the note out loud. Misty is in very visible shock. Who wouldn't be, finding out that her brother (from what I can infer) is part of an evil cult.

"Meet you here tomorrow at eight in the morning?" Akiza asks.

"Sure." We all respond with something to that effect.

~Next day, same place, roughly eight in the morning~

I have met up with the others just outside of the Arena. We all enter together and sure enough, there is Yusei. Yusei is tied up and gagged and levitating three meters in the air, but otherwise seems ok. Oh, and did I mention that the guy from the Arena yesterday is holding a knife to Yusei's jugular? 'Cause that's going on. This time the person who I now know is a Dark Signer named Toby Lola addresses me first. My stupid cursed birthmark on the back of my left hand grows from its normal state (a small light red dot in the middle of the back of my left hand) to a red version of my dragonstone mark (that is, it's the same pattern but with only the red parts coloured in.) and starts glowing.

"Junior Signer. You defeated me yesterday, because my attention was diverted. Next time you won't be so lucky." Toby says. The Signers filled me in yesterday about what happened to Toby, and now I no longer hate him. In fact, I feel a tinge of pity for his case. He was almost electrocuted in those experiments, and caused his sister to temporarily be sent to the Netherworld. And all because he had enthusiasm over his psychic powers. I've decided. I'll put a wall around my emotions, and never hurt anyone like that.

"Toby, it doesn't have to be like this. Misty is alive, but she didn't come because of your threat. She's perfectly well. You don't have to fight any more." Akiza says. I can see on Toby's face that he listens for a second, but his eyes return to the black and yellow state of a Dark Signer's eyes after a millisecond.

"No… No! I've had enough of your lies! You convinced me to let Sayer electrocute me! You sent Misty to the Netherworld! Stop! Stop!" Toby yells.

"The only way we'll get through is to Duel you, isn't it? Ok then. I'll be your opponent. No holding back." I say, and take off my dragonstone. My eyes glaze over instantly, presumably because of my choice to seal my emotions. I don't have any control over my actions right now. It's an odd sensation. Usually when I go out of control I retain a bit of conscious control, but not this time.

"Me first. Come, Tytannial!" Toby shouts, as Tytannial appears.

"I place two face down and end my turn." Toby says.

"My turn, then. I summon Fortune Fairy Ann and Fortune Fairy Sui! I lay a facedown. Spell card, Moonlight Sword! I get to choose a card from your hand and an in play facedown trap card. If I guess right, after you use the trap card not only is the effect negated or in the case of damage halved, but it and the card in your hand are removed from play on my next turn. Same goes if you summon or use the card from your hand. And I think I'll nullify… Your Queen of Thorns there in your hand! Now if you use… let's see, which card is that? Yes, if you use Watery Reflection, Queen of Thorns is removed from play! I end my turn." I say. I feel myself grin. And my spirit is ejected from my body.

From literally beside myself, I can see that my clothes have changed to a dress exactly like the one that Sui-chan wears and a poncho exactly like Ann-chan's. How odd. Apparently though, Luna can see that my spirit is not in my body anymore. She whispers that to Akiza and Leo, and they are a bit shocked. I'm just scared. As to what "I" will do during this Duel. To find out, I go back into my body. As I thought, "I" used my psychic powers and sensed what cards Toby has. In other words, "I" cheated. That… is second fiddle right now. I can't control myself. I am, probably without grounding mind you, worried that I might fuse with the other me. Maybe I will. But for now, I'm safe. I'm safe, because Misty runs in and yells out her brother's name. The glowing purple lines recede from Toby's face and arm and he falls to his knees.

"Misty? Misty!" Toby says, crying a bit. Misty embraces him in a hug and takes off his Dark Signer hood. Toby's monster and facedowns disappear as the siblings reunite. As with the other traces of Toby being a Dark Signer, the ropes and gag around Yusei disappear and he falls to the ground.

"Yusei!" Akiza shouts, and runs towards him to help him to his feet.

"Akiza? What happened?" Yusei asks as if he didn't see any of that. Akiza slaps him straight across the face.

"What do you mean, 'what happened'? A Dark Signer held you hostage, that's what happened! Except… he turned out to be Misty's brother Toby and he's not a Dark Signer anymore. And yesterday…" Akiza trails off and seemingly just gives in to the fact that she's happy to see Yusei alive and well. She hugs him, a gesture that Yusei returns, apparently gladly.

"Toby won the Duel, that's what you were going to say, right?" Yusei guesses. Akiza shakes her head.

"No, actually the little girl over there did. She also helped us find you." Akiza says. They turn to me. I feel my body being lifted, and out of the corner of my eye I can see that the Fortune Fairies and I are at least nine meters up into the air by now. Not the time to develop acrophobia. But do I care? No. I'm internally, that is, the real me is experiencing severe acrophobia. All because of one oath, I'm stuck cold and… Oh great, what a time to fuse with the cold version of me. Uh oh. Looks like I'm trapped behind my wall of no emotions. Someone, help…

_Yeah yeah yeah. I know, I am SO copying the Akiza and Yusei plotline from the actual series, but it will change later. So now that Toby has rejected the Earthbound immortal, the Junior Dark Signer Orca mark is free for any OCs you might want to contribute. Thank you for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for the reviews, FiringShootingStar! I'll try to stop using say and use more interesting terms. Present tense is now going to be used, except in flashbacks, in any point of view other than the plain ol' narrator's. Also, Toby uses last name then first name for stating full names when he's narrating. Well, on to the latest chapter!_

Location: New Domino Casual Duel Arena.

Point of View: Toby's

I'm Lola Toby. Until very recently, I was a Dark Signer. I should be… let's see, it's hard to tell your age when you've been half-electrocuted and in stasis for an indefinite period of time, but I guess I'm thirteen years old, give or take a week. I have Psychic Duelist powers, but in addition there's something else you need to know to understand what's happening right now. I can read minds. Or more accurately, if I concentrate I can see what's going on in other people's psyches. Is that clear enough? Good. Now see through my eyes what's going on.

I have just reunited with my sister, Misty Tredwell. Heard of her? Not surprising, really- she's a famous model. But, after we have reunited, I notice something. I can hear someone's soul crying out. I look to see whose, and the voice seems to belong to a girl around my age with dark blue hair and completely glazed over eyes. She's dressed like a Fortune Fairy. Weird. And she seems to be making the wind pick up.

'Help me…' Her soul calls out. I wonder slightly why nobody else hears it. I want to find out who this person is. Hmm, let's see… her name is Kurotori Hõseki, she is six months and three days younger than me (my birthday is June 12, hers is December 15), she's a sensitive, sweet and kind person, and she's a Psychic Duelist too. But her powers are out of control. When she loses control of her powers, an alternate personality called Atsu kicks in. And she decided to put a wall around her emotions, unwittingly letting Atsu's destructive nature and capabilities take complete control over her, to the point of sealing the real Hõseki in a psychic "cage". Why would anyone do something like that? Feelings are nice. Sure, there's sadness and anger and all that, but happiness is something you should share! But that won't get through, at least not right now. Or maybe it will. Gotta try, right?

"Kurotori-san! You shouldn't seal your feelings away!" I call to her, but she doesn't show any sign of listening.

"Eventually, shared feelings hurt you and the ones close to you. Toby, you of all people should know that. Tune, Fortune Fairies Ann and Sui! Power of the eclipse, Balance Dragon!" Hõseki shouts, and her two small Fortune Fairy monsters combine and transform into a silver, black, and icy blue dragon. Ok, time for plan B. Plan B is… make up plan B. I kinda hoped plan A would work. Oh well. Hmm… What if I challenge her to a Psychic Fusion Duel. I think that's what its called when Psychic Duelists fuse with their monsters partially and fight each other like a normal Duel, but with no facedowns or monsters.

"Kurotori-san, or should I say, Atsu, I challenge you to a Psychic Fusion Duel! If I win, you have to release the real Kurotori Hõseki-san!" I reply, almost at a shout because she's floating around ten meters in the air. She replies with an almost invisible nod.

"I call out Solitary Magical's staff to allow me to use spells. I draw a card. Your turn." A red staff with a red crystal appears in my hands, and I look at the card I drew. What luck, it's a spell. But not the one I had wanted. Well, one specific card in around forty isn't that likely, after all.

"You're quite clever, to figure out I'm not that weakling Hõseki. But nonetheless, I'll beat you. And when I win, I get to destroy Hõseki's soul!" Atsu laughs and summons Fortune Lady Fire's staff. She draws a card. I can hear the real Hõseki shouting something to me, but Atsu silences her. How mean. I guess I'll have to win this, then. I don't know why, really, but I don't want Atsu to destroy Hõseki. I've never even met the real one, but I know that yesterday during our Duel she was trying to protect people she had never met, and she wanted to help me reject the Emissary of the Netherworld, so I guess it's only fair that I should return the favour.

"You won't win. I promise that." I respond coolly.

"Really? Take this!" Atsu yells, pointing her staff at me. A ray of flame bursts out, setting my Dark Signer cloak on fire and reducing my Life Points to 3600. I quickly take off my cloak, glad that I still have my school uniform underneath. Atsu then adds, "Turn, end."

"I draw a card. And," I look at the card and sure enough, there is (modified in a Psychic Fusion Duel, of course) Flash of the Forbidden Spell, "I cast Flash of the Forbidden Spell!" I add as a whispered afterthought, "Sorry." Lightning shoots from my wand, and disintegrates Atsu's staff. Though it thankfully didn't hurt her, Atsu/Hõseki's life points are down to 2600. I don't know how that works, but I'm thankful for it.

"My turn now. I summon Fortune Staff of Darkness! Attack!" Atsu draws a circle in the air with her new staff and from that circle erupts purple energy. It hurts, a lot. It also takes away three thousand of my Life Points, leaving me with 600. This isn't going so well for me, is it?

"Mermaid archer's bow, come! Attack." I draw the bow, which is surprisingly low draw weight for a battle bow, and fire. It hits Hõseki's shoulder near her neck, just barely missing her jugular vein. Not a pleasant mistake to make. Her LP drops to 50. I draw another card. I hope I have good luck, 'cause one way or another this Duel will be decided in Atsu's next turn. And my card is… Watery reflection. Deflects the attack and deals half the damage back. Just what I needed!

"You're finished!" Atsu shouts, firing another attack.

"Not so fast. Watery Reflection!" I raise my wand, and a tremulous wall of water rises in front of me and the attack bounces right off of it and back at Atsu. Atsu's Life Points are at zero now, and that means… I won!

"That was a fluke! You had a lucky draw! I'll leave for now, but this won't be the last you'll see of me, I swear!" Atsu screams. I half expect that she won't keep her promise. But sure enough, Hõseki's eyes are no longer glazed and the red glow she had during the duel is gone.

"Thank you…" I hear Hõseki whisper as she faints. I run over and catch her before she can hit the ground. The Signers and Misty walk over to me. From my time as a Junior Dark Signer, I know their names and I can recognize each of them.

"Toby, that was amazing!" Misty congratulates me with a hug.

"You're- squishing- me," I gasp, and she stops, "And we need a doctor to take a look at Kurotori-san's neck." Misty nods, and takes out her mobile phone to call the hospital. The Signers rush over to us.

"I have absolutely no idea what was going on back there. Care to explain, Toby?" Yusei asks. The other Signers agree.

"I looked into Kurotori-san's soul. A malevolent being called Atsu was controlling her. So I made a deal that Atsu would have to go away if I won, and I did." I do my best to explain, though to be quite frank my best isn't very good.

"Whoa, let's go back one. You say you looked into her soul?" Jack asks, looking very confused.

"Yes. If I concentrate, I can do that. Plus, I get the feeling that I've met Kurotori-san somewhere before." I reply. Oddly enough, Misty nods.

"You mentioned in your letters a few years ago that you had a friend at school named Hõseki Kurotori." Misty smiles at me, and gives me a look that tells me to try and remember. I'm searching, and searching, I want to find those memories. And find them I do. At the small-time Duel boarding school I went to, I was unaccepted and feared, even hated sometimes, for my powers. I've always been moderately able to control them, and so Misty saw no need for a restraining device like Akiza and Kurotori-san have. The downside is that while Kurotori-san hid hers and was safe from the people who held differences in contempt, I always displayed signs of my powers during Duels. One day she approached me, and told me that she had powers too. We promised from then on to always stick by each other, for all eternity. That sounds cheesy I know, but we were roughly nine years old at the time. But later, a couple months before my disappearance to the Arcadia movement's hidden base, she got amnesia. That's the last I remember.

"I remember now. Well, mostly at least." I respond. I realize that I left around an eighth of my cards at the Dark Signers' base… Oddly, it's like when I rejected the Earthbound Immortal, my memories of the Dark Signers' secrets left too. I can feel something wet on my knee, where Kurotori-san's head is resting. I look and find that my leg is wet with blood. I sure hope that ambulance arrives soon.

It doesn't. Probably the exact opposite is what does. That is to say, Rukio, one of the Dark Signers, shows up, floating on my Tentacle Plant. Stars above, can't we get a little peace around here? Come to think of it though, this would have been a perfect opportunity to send all the Signers to the Netherworld. How did I not see that coming? A tentacle wraps around Hõseki, rather gently considering that it's too fast for me to react. It pulls her unconscious form up to Rukio's side before flying away. This happens fast enough that none of us can react while it happens, but slow enough to register what's going on. I spot something falling from Hõseki's hand. It lands as though it has a will of its own in my hands. It's that stone from Hõseki's necklace, the one with the dragon pattern. I look up to the sky to see if the Tentacle Plant is still there, but it, along with Rukio and Hõseki, has vanished.

_Couldn't think of any more, sorry. Please leave a review if you have time. Thanks! _


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